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The Mystery of Billy-Goat Smith

by Barbara Ann Lambert

16 pages; Saddle stitched; catalogue #05-2206; ISBN 1-4120-7311-1; US$8.69, C$9.99, EUR7.14, £5.00

Mystery surrounded Billy Goat-Smith, a hermit living on the West Coast. Rumours swirled around this man, bank robber, arsonist, even murder! Readers are asked to solve this historical mystery!

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About the Book      About the Author      Excerpts      Catalogue Information

About the Book

Billy-Goat Smith was a famous West Coast hermit. He came to Canada from the U.S. in 1910. He lived, until his death in 1958, in a remote area of Powell Lake. He never left his cabin, and relied on others to deliver his supplies, after his boat was wrecked in a storm in 1937.

Rumours swirled around this man. He was a crack-shot. Some say he was the best shot on the West Coast. His real name was Robert Bonner Smith but he gained his nickname by his ability to shoot a mountain goat from halfa- mile away.

It was not too long before his name was linked with the famous New York society murder in 1906 of architect Stanford White. There was speculation that a millionaire named Harvey Thaw had arranged for a hit man to kill Stanford White. An article in Collier's magazine implied a third man was involved. The West Coast newspaper suggested that the gunman had escaped to Canada by train. A movie, The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, first screened in the 1950's, was based on these stories.

Cabins at Powell Lake were torched in 1915. Arsenic was found in the sugar of cabin owners. Rumours swirled. Billy-Goat, known to hate the intrusion of others in his wilderness retreat, became a prime suspect. Billy-Goat seemed to be afraid of something. He kept his money in quart glass jars in the dirt floor of his root house. It was rumoured that he lots of cash. Possibly he was a bank robber? Perhaps he had killed someone in a bank robbery in the U.S. and was hiding from the law in Canada? The notorious criminals Fawcett and Bagley blew up the safe at the Patricia Theatre in Powell River in March 1932. There was immediate speculation that Billy-Goat had supplied Fawcett and Bagley with information. In The Mystery of Billy-Goat Smith, Gramps tells the story to his two grandchildren, Jamie and Julie.

Gramps, as a young boy, had met Billy-Goat when he came to the Lambert goat-diary farm in 1932 to buy some goats. Gramps is my late husband, Stuart Lambert. This is a true story. Tom Lambert, Stuart's father, speculates how a hobo, during the Great Depression, could afford to pay $60 in cash for three goats.

Jamie and Julie listen to the rumours and stories about Billy-Goat Smith. They try to solve the mystery. At the end of the story the reader is left to decide if Billy-Goat is the prime suspect for murder, arson or robbery!

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About the Author

Barbara Ann Lambert was born in Yorkshire, England at the beginning of World War II. She lived with her parents, Ernest and Margaret Rathbone, and older sister, Joyce. She attended St. Oswald's Elementary School, Guiseley and Otley Grammar School, Yorkshire. In 1952 the family moved to Lancaster, Lancashire where relatives, on both sides of the family, lived.

After attending Lancaster Girls' Grammar School, Barbara trained as a teacher at Wentworth Castle Training College, near Barnsley, in Yorkshire. She completed her education at Liverpool University, England, and the University of British Columbia, Canada. In 1975 Barbara received her Bachelor of Education degree in History and Special Education from UBC. In 1966 Barbara immigrated to Canada. After accepting a teaching position in Powell River in 1968, Barbara met, and later married Stuart Lambert. They have a daughter, Ann.

Barbara Lambert's teaching career covered 35 years in England, Germany and British Columbia, Canada. She retired in 1997 from the Powell River School District.

In 1998 Barbara self-published her first book on local history: In Paradise: West Coast Short Stories, 1890-1960. In December 2000 Barbara self-published her second book: Chalkdust & Outhouses: West Coast Schools, 1893-1950.

In 2001 Stuart Lambert died at age 87. In memory of her husband, Barbara published in 2002 her third book through Trafford publications: Rusty Nails & Ration Books: Great Depression & WWII Memories, 1929-1945. In 2003 Barbara left the family farm to live in quiet solitude, by the ocean, with her big dog Dakota and two cats, Princess and Queenie.

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Excerpts

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Catalogue Information

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